Clay and Paper Cubes

A clay cube made by slab construction featuring cut outs and textured surfaces. Inspired by a paper cube made to the same dimensions.

A paper cube made out of a net with a ruler, pencil and a papercut knife. 

Clay Experiments with Texture and Oxides

Previously made clay samples have been biscuit fired. Painted a mysterious oxide on as a wash, then sponged off with a wet cloth to highlight the texture present. Glaze applied in two small strips.

Clay Samples

A series of experiments in clay - including imprints, scores and crosshatching, approximately 15" across.

Brass Rings

My first attempt at making rings. One plain (centre) one with a hammered surface (right) and a rustic ring, with the oxide left on whilst polishing. All made from rectangles of brass cut to size.

Artist Research - Gillian Lowndes

Spending much of her childhood in India she studied in London and Paris. From 1975 she taught part time at Camberwell College of Arts and Design and Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design.

I like the angles on Cup and Base and the cup itself is very distinctive in comparison to some of her other work, such as Collage with Bathroom Tile', which I think is quite ambiguous. Although considered exciting in her time, I dislike the lack of colour in her work and I find it uninspiring and a little bland.

Lowndes' Wikipedia

Artist Research - Caroline Bartlett

Bartlett has studied at the Chelsea School of Art, Goldsmith's College, Leeds University and the Central School of Art and Design. Textiles is her main medium, but she often combines her textiles with other media such as porcelain.

This is my favourite piece of her work, I believe it to be named Bodies of Knowledge, Volume 5: Arbiters of Taste (2003) in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

I like her use multimedia use, and particularly the raw edges that have been left out of the embroidery hoops, as she could have hemmed them, but I personally think that it would have ruined the effect.

Bartlett's Website

Artist Research - Eduardo Chillida

Chillida wanted to be a footballer, but was injured and ended up studying architecture and art. He moved to Paris and started to work in plaster and clay. From very early on his work gained public recognition, such as the sculpture above Berlin (2000) for the Office of the Federal Chancellor in Berlin, and Monumento, (1971) in Düsseldorf. 

I like how he added the alloy to Berlin to make the orange rust colour. I think that the textures of his work is very flat, he could use textures a bit more, but overall I enjoy his use of forged iron.

Chillida's Biography

Artist Research - Tommy Hilfiger

Born: 24 March 1951 (aged 63)

Awards won:

Parson's School of Designer of the Year (1998)
CDFA Menswear Designer of the Year (1995)
CQ's Magazine International Designer of the Year (2002)

He began by customising jeans and selling them on. His first shop went bankrupt when he was 25, he then enrolled to study commerce. He turned down Calvin Klein even though he was broke and started the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1985.

Hilfiger's Wikipedia, Hilfiger's Website.

Artist Research - Valentino Clemente Ludovico Caravani

Born: 11 May 1932 (aged 82)

Awards won:

Grande Ufficiale Dell' Ordine Al Merito Della Repubblica Italiana
Cavaliere Del Lavoro
The Neiman Marcus Award

He first found an apprenticeship with Jean Dresses for five years. He then joined his friend's Guy Laroche's 'tiny tiny' fashion house before setting up himself in 1959.

Valentino's Wikipedia, Valentino's Website.

Artist Research - Gianni Versace

Born: 2 December 1946
Died: 15 July 1997 (aged 50)

Awards won:

Commendatore Della Repubblica Italiana (1986)
American Fashion Oscar (1993)

Versace produces accessories, fragrances, make-up and home furnishings as well as clothing.

He designed costumes for the theatre and screen, and is considered the first designer to link fashion and music.

Versace's Wikipedia, Versace's Website.

Artist Research - Alexander McQueen

Born: 17 March 1969
Died: 11 Feb 2010 (40 years of age)

Awards won:

British Fashion Designer of the Year (1996, 1997, 2001, 2003)
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Council of Fashion Designers of America International Designer of the Year (2003)

McQueen has served apprenticeships with Savile Row tailors, as well as working at theatrical costumiers and being head designer at Givenchy. He is well known for his 'bumsters' jeans and especially for his skull designs, and a skull scarf is considered a McQueen must have.

McQueen's Wikipedia, McQueen's Website.

Artist Research - Mia Pearlman

‘HAVOC was created in the middle of an ice storm in Pembroke, North Carolina. Using the drawing side of the cut paper pieces, it’s title reflects the weather outside, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and many others, and the chaos of our current political and environmental moment.’

Part of the Pushing Paper Exhibition, January 8 - February 14, 2011, Curated by Carla Rokes at The A.D. Gallery, TheUniversity of North Carolina at Pembroke, PO Box 1510, Pembroke, NC 28372. Text copied from http://miapearlman.com/CUT_PAPER/cut_paper.html

Although I prefer more functional art pieces (hence my choice to go into design rather than fine art!) this is a beautiful piece. It reminds me of how Spiderman’s web sticks to whichever surfaces it is propelled at.

 The piece seems to have a personality of its own, beautifully cut, artfully composed and bold, seeming to claim the walls it has been posed upon.

Like her other work, HAVOC is cut out of white paper, the tones and shadows are made by the lights shone through the layers of the piece, casting shadows and reflecting the light onto other surfaces.

Mia Pearlman is an American artist concerned with cut paper installations, sculpture and collage, who also delivers talks and lectures at colleges and universities all over the USA.

Artist Research - Rob Ryan

Cushion design for Wild & Wolf 2012

‘My home will have no windows doors or floors nor bricks or mortar, my only home is in your arms and nowhere else’

From http://robryanstudio.com/archive/

This is part of a collection Rob Ryan designed for British design led gift company Wild & Wolf, which also features glass and ceramics, notebooks and various textile items including shopping bags and bunting.

I love the contrast of the black on blue, especially as in my early work I enjoyed using contrasting colours, particularly black on white, and I confess I have developed a fondness for it. I like this design as the contrast is still present but the colour adds another element to it.

I am presuming that this was first cut out of paper then either scanned in in front of the colour or scanned first then filled in later. This really shows Ryan’s talent of paper cutting, with intricate shapes and delicately cut lines.

I could easily see the cushion as a centrepiece on any sofa from a modern to a more homely feeling living room.

Geometric 3D Cut Paper Sculpture

Cartridge paper scored in irregular triangles, cut and assembled first as individual shapes, then made up into a larger, more complicated piece.

Artist Research - Phillippe Starke

‘As a child I never liked school, however, I loved dogs. Should I have met this learned dog at that time, I would have become a scholar, too.

But I missed the occasion and unfortunately the learned dog exists now only for children. Too late.’ 

Phillippe Starke, www.starck.com

Le Chien Savant is a single table and seat combination in the shape of a dog, with the tail making up the back of the chair and the head and ears have been morphed into the table top. Although it doesn't say it on the website by the look of it Le Chien Savant looks like it’s made from a dense plastic.

I do like this piece as I am a dog lover myself and think this would look great in a children’s study space. I know as  child this would have encouraged me to sit down and learn something, and I too sympathise with Starke’s quote from the website, which I have put at the top of this page. I really enjoy the concept of making something everyday and a little boring into something fun and exciting to entertain children and to encourage them to learn. I bit I dislike is that the table top looks a bit odd and inorganic, but having said that I don't think I would be able to do a better job, as if you made the tabletop any smaller to make it look better, the function of it would decrease.

Having not seen the object myself I don't think I can judge whether it is well made or not, however it looks dense and durable, which would be perfect for its intended use. The dog is aimed for children, obvious in its size and its bright colour choices, as it’s available in yellow, black, orange and pink.

Worked Metal and Wire Cube

Brass, tin plated steel and copper tempered and shaped in a variety of ways. Nailed onto a block of timber using 3/4" nails then scorched with a flame to colour the wood.

My Week in Visual Communication

I have taken a fancy to many of the artists I have been introduced to this week, I'm not going to lie, it is a novelty...maybe I've just been looking in the wrong direction. Particularly Jonny Hannah and Paul Thurlby's hand rendered type and lettering.

I also liked Saul Bass's poster designs, even more so because I'm a bit of a Hitchcock fan!

More amusing than inspiring, I especially liked Tim Yarzhombek's 'Beard Alphabet'.

I am keen to further my experience in both graphic design and in animation - I have past experience in graphics and first started animating using my first digital camera, Windows Movie Maker and Legos...how times have changed.

Sony Release Eye Popping Popeye Test Footage - from Skwigly 19th September 2014

So it turns out they're going to animate Popeye! How brilliant is that going to be? Russian animator Genndy Tartakovsky is in charge, famous for 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'Star Wars: Clone Wars' and 'The Flintstones: On the Rocks'.

Find the original article here, over at Skwigly.

Just watch that video, even the drawings make me smile, I love how they've kept the characteristics from the original cartoon, you can tell from the test footage that it's easily made the jump into modern 3D animation.

Childhood, it looks like you're in safe hands! Popeye is hopefully going to be released in 2016.

Artist Research - Noma Bar

'Avinoam Noma Bar (born in 1973 in Israel) is a graphic designer. His work has appeared in many media outlets including: Time Out London, BBC, Random House, The Observer, The Economist and Wallpaper*. Bar has illustrated over sixty magazine covers, published over 550 illustrations and released two books of his work through Mark Batty Publisher: 'Guess Who - The Many Faces of Noma Bar', in 2008 and 'Negative Space' in early 2009.'

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noma_Bar

'Tea for Two'

Bar is 'after the maximum communication with minimum elements', and that can be seen here in 'Tea for Two'. I like it's limited colour scheme, simple lines and block colour. I also like the sizing of the subject, some would have made it too big for the image, whereas Bar has placed it in the middle of the picture. 

'Political Cities'

This I like again for similar reasons as the one above...minimal colour and minimal lines. I also like how Bar has played with the iconic American flag and what it symbolises, illustrating it's architecture and world famous politics.

Artist Research - Stefan Sagmeister

'The Happy Show'

​'Filling the Institute of Contemporary Art's (ICA) entire second-floor galleries and ramp, and activating the in-between spaces of the museum, The Happy Show offers visitors the experience of walking into Stefan Sagmeister's mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via mediation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals.' 

Taken from http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/

I like Sagmeister's use of limited colour scheme, as it helps the viewer focus on the visual representations and statistics illustrated. To add to this, it is simply laid out without unnecessary complications which makes it easy on the eye.

I've also taken a liking to the concept - I find psychology fascinating, and research into both an individual mind and the general public's greatly interests me. I enjoy the idea that each and every viewer would compare themselves to the chart and see similarities between themselves and others.

'Obsessions Make my Life Worse and my Work Better'

'On September 13, 2008 Sagmeister Inc. began the installation of 250,000 Eurocents on Waagdragerhof Square in Amsterdam. Over the course of 8 days and with the help of more than 100 volunteers, the coins were sorted into 4 different shades, and carefully placed over this 300 sqm area, according to a master plan.

The coin mural spelled out the sentence “Obsessions make my life worse and my work better.” After completion the coins were left free and unguarded for the public to interact with. Less than 20 hours after the grand opening, a local resident noticed a person bagging the coins and taking them away. Protective of the design piece they had watched being created, they called the police. After stopping the ‘criminal’ the police–in an effort to ‘preserve the artwork’–swept up every remaining cent and carted them away.'

Taken from http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/

Firstly, I enjoy large scale projects, which, if I am honest, probably stemmed from my love of the 'Big Art Attacks' on the children's TV show 'Art Attack'. I also love the contrast of the metallic coins on the matt background of the tiles. The geometric nature of the text works well with the organic flora here, and the piece is well composed and thought out.

Hand Drawn Typography Quadriptych

Simple ground applied to cartridge paper made from white emulsion mixed with brown and pink inks. Applied first with a sponge then overlaid using a stippling brush.

Then whilst looking at various packaging and household items hand drawn typography was added in various media, including oil pastels - 'Tonic Water', felt pen - 'Fentimans Est. 1905' graphite - '454g' and ink - 'Orange'.